If we talk to loved ones who have died, do they hear us?

A loved one may be ill, very ill, all hope of recovery may be gone; still the soul is present in the body, and thoughts may be exchanged. But the moment the soul has passed into the unseen world, this ceases absolutely — irretrievably ceases. The dear departed one may love as ever, nay, infinitely more than ever, for "God is love," and heaven is its home. The love of the bereaved may be quickened into a burning flame, and the desire to express it may be intensified a thousand-fold, but there is no more communication of thought — no exchange of affection. The dark impenetrable veil that separates the two states of being must not be passed. Faith alone may cross the threshold, and see the departed one resting — at home — with Jesus — in the Paradise of God. For a moment the eye is bright — something like gladness passes through the mind; but a tender recollection touches the heart — the eye is dimmed — and sadness presses down the weary soul. Everything, save the blessed Lord Himself, seems gone; but He is near, very near, blessed be His name. "Thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me."

Could there be, however far apart, only the means of exchanging our thoughts and affections, it would no longer be death. We may often be parted from each other in this life without the thought ever crossing the mind that we have suffered loss. Letters go and come; the path of the absent one may be traced and the joys of return anticipated. This is life — the object of affection is possessed. It is neither death nor its dark shadow. But from the moment that the Lord has taken the soul to Himself, all such communion is at an end. The awful fact of separation is felt. The heart may burn with the purest affection, for love never faileth — the whole soul may long to say something to, and to hear something from, the loved departed, but all is in vain. The body may be there still, and every feature may only seem in calm, repose; but that which thought, loved, intended, remembered, is gone. Stillness reigns — the stillness that is indescribable. You cannot awaken the sleeping one. The heart that would have been removed to its depths by a sigh, or melted by a tear, hears not the deepest wail and sees not the flowing tears. This is death — the death of the mortal body. And to those that are left behind, it is "the valley of the shadow of death." And so dense is that shadow sometimes in this weary wilderness, that even the heavenly orbs seem changed, and shine differently.

Samuels' words to Saul, "Why hast thou disquieted me to bring me up?" would indicate the dead have neither pleasure nor desire to be contacted by the living.

In the story of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16), the Lord draws aside the curtain and teaches us the condition of those who have died. Lazarus was in the place of supreme blessedness, and he was not permitted to go and communicate with the five brethren of the rich man, and the rich man was in the place of misery and could not go; hence we conclude, and rightly, that the spirits of dead men do not communicate with the living.

So far we have their earthly history, ending with death. Now we learn about them in the other world, where their positions were reversed. Lazarus, the suppliant for the rich man's crumbs whilst on earth, is the very one whose service the rich man craves to cool his parched tongue with one drop of water; for he was in anguish in the flame. Lazarus was at rest. He was in torment. His good things he had possessed on earth, but there they ended. Lazarus, whose lot had been a suffering one in life, was comforted, and was in Abraham's bosom. What a difference — anguish without alleviation the portion of the former, perfect rest the lot of the latter! The veil is here lifted by Him who was competent to do it, and the condition of the lost in the unclothed state laid bare for us. Isaiah had contrasted the lot of the righteous dead with that of the ungodly dead. The former, he wrote, shall rest in their beds, each one walking in his uprightness (Isa. 57:2). For the latter, the wicked, there is no peace, he has twice over declared (Isa. 48:22; 57:21). In Luke 16 the rich man in the unclothed state speaks, and in the most awful way confirms the prophetic announcement. How gladly would he have welcomed the ministry of Lazarus, to whom he had shown no mercy when he had it in his power. But in vain. Between him and Lazarus there was an impassable gulf. Temporal death, it is plain, is not the end of human existence, nor the termination of the creature's consciousness. The rich man was in torments, and painfully conscious of his unmitigable sufferings. And now thought and concern were awakened in his bosom for his brethren still on earth. He who had been here the incarnation of selfishness desired a message from the other world to reach his brethren, lest they should enter that place of torment. His petition for himself had been denied. His petition for his brethren was rejected. "They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them." The written word, comprised under the designation of the law and the prophets, was sufficient. The revelation of the day is all that is needed, and no more will be vouchsafed.

Again the rich man speaks: "Nay, father Abraham but if one went to them from the dead, they will repent." His request was a second time refused. "If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though [or, if] one rose from the dead" (16:31). Is that possible? That might once have been asked, but can be asked no longer. One did rise from the dead. They heard of Him from accredited messengers who had seen Him, yet they did not repent. Of what use then is earthly wealth, so dearly prized by the covetous, if it be just expended in gratifying the selfish desires of its possessor? There is a future. Use earthly things in view of that. Such is the teaching the Lord would enforce.

This lost soul had full consciousness of his own misery and he had carried into hades a memory that could only add to his torment; and he was conscious moreover of the blessing in which Lazarus rested, in which he might have shared. It is a remarkable thing that he should then plead for his five brothers. It may be that he was responsible for the way they were living; he had set them the example and encouraged them in self-indulgent lives, and he would have them warned, for it would seem as though his torment would be increased five-fold if they came where he was, as a result of his influence and example. He pleads, If only some apparition from the unseen world would warn them, someone whom they had known in his earthly life, they would take heed and repent. No, answers Abraham, "They have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them … If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead."

By this parable the notion that the soul sleeps at death until the resurrection is shown to be false; and that more pernicious teaching that the dead will have a second opportunity of salvation is exposed, and that still further lie that the spirits of the dead are anxious and able to communicate with the living is shattered. I am sure that some spirits do communicate through mediums at Spiritistic seances, for not all is fraud in those circles, but they are evil spirits — demons such as possessed men and women when the Lord came to earth, these impersonate the dead to deceive souls.

The rich man was conscious, he had no hope of salvation, he could not communicate with his brothers himself and heaven refused to allow one of the blessed to do it.

The Lord Jesus, risen from the dead and glorified, says, "I have the keys of death and hades", and we believe this fact excludes all possibility of the dead communicating with the living; for it surely means that He is Master of death and the world beyond. His Lordship may not be acknowledged by all in this life, but none can refuse it in the life beyond, all there are subject, willingly or unwilling, to His dominion. Then if this be true, none can return who have passed through the portals of death except as He permits it, certainly they cannot obey the call of a godless medium. We know all about Samuel and the witch of Endor; this case does not help the Spiritists, but condemns them. There God intervened specially, that the apostate Saul might hear his doom. It was not the power of the medium that brought him up; she expected her familiar spirit to come, impersonating Samuel, and was terrified when Samuel himself appeared. And the Lord slew Saul for his great sin.

This evil has an increasing fascination for men as the ages pass, and as the end draws near. Men have a natural desire to know something of the life beyond, and it is alleged that Spiritualism is a ready means of acquiring first-hand information from departed relatives and friends. It is even said that these are eager to communicate with us; but this is not borne out by the story before us, the only true record of a departed man ever speaking again to persons on earth. Samuel positively rebuked Saul for disturbing him. "Why hast thou disquieted me, to bring me up?"

Not for a single moment will He ever surrender them. He is Lord of the dead as well as of the living (Rom. 14:9). The believing dead are described in Scripture as "present with the Lord" (2 Cor. 5:8), and it is not within the power of evil persons called mediums to disturb their repose for the sake of a fee. The unbelieving dead are "spirits in prison," and no one can get past Christ in order to communicate with them.

The question is, Are the spirits with which communication is established, the spirits of departed men and women? They are not. I think I can show that clearly from Scripture. My first Scripture proof is Revelation 1:17-18. It may not seem, at first, to have any connection with this subject, but I think I shall be able to prove to you that it has. The Lord Jesus appears here in His glory and greatness to His servant, the apostle John. John says, in verse 17, "And when I saw Him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid His right hand upon me, saying to me, Fear not; I am the first and the last: I am he that lives, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death" (Rev. 1:17-18). "AND HAVE THE KEYS OF HADES AND OF DEATH." What does that convey to your mind? It ought to convey this, that the Lord — the risen Lord — is Master of the life beyond death. He has the keys, and none can pass from that world to this apart from His permission. He is Master. No medium is master of the spirits of the departed, nor can any come in answer to their call. The Lord has control there, His "Lordship" is not acknowledged by many who live in this life. There is not a single soul amongst all the millions that have passed to the life beyond, whether to the regions of darkness or light, that does not acknowledge His Lordship. He is Master; He has the keys. Let that great fact sink into your minds. There is immense comfort in it to those who are in Christ. It will settle our thoughts, I believe, in regard to this matter at once if only we see its significance. In Old Testament times God closed the door against any attempt to communicate with the dead, naming such attempts amongst the abominations of the idolatrous nations of Canaan. The keys of that door are now in the hands of the Lord Jesus — the risen Man. has He thrown that door open, permitting now as a sacred duty that which was formerly an abomination? The question carries its own answer.